CORD to force IEBC to approve the okoa Kenya signatures

- CORD has issued fresh threats in a bid to have their okoa Kenya signatures approved to pave way for a referendum

- The party has said that its members will storm the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) offices and set camp until the signatures are approved

Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) has vowed to camp outside IEBC's office until their Okoa Kenya signatures are approved. On Tuesday , April 19, the leaders threatened to storm the IEBC's offices and camp until their plea was heard.

This is CORD's clamour to have a list of one million signatures approved to pave way for a referendum that will spark an amendment in the Kenyan constitution. The delegation was led by CORD leaders Johnstone Muthama, Reuben Ndolo and James Orengo who address journalists at Capitol Hill in Nairobi on Tuesday, April 19, 2016.

The march and camp has been slotted for Monday, April 25, with CORD accusing the IEBC of running away every time they had to deal with the issue of the signatures.

Muthama and Orengo intimated that the Saturday, April 23 rally and the march to IEBC on Monday,April 25 would headed by CORD co-principals Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and the Bungoma Senator, Moses Wetang’ula.

CORD wants the list of names on the register approved not the signatures next to the names - this was after IEBC approved only 891,598 signatures out of the 1,633,577 that had been submitted.

IEBC cited a glaring anomaly on the signature which saw the number slump below the one million threshold that CORD required to initiate a referendum and a change in the constitution.

FORD Kenya representative in the CORD committee and the MP Tongaren, Eseli Simiyu, missed the meeting sparking rumors that FORD Kenya was boycotting the march.

His absence was explained at the meeting with Muthama offering that the MP had traveled abroad for a business trip and would be joining consecutive meetings.

The IEBC through their chairman, had sent a statement to newsrooms on why the Okoa Kenya initiative had collapsed.

It can be remembered that it was through the Orange and Banana referendum in 2005 that opposition leader Raila Odinga garnered massive support after he managed to convince Kenyans to reject the proposed constitution by the NARC government under Mwai Kibaki.

Raila later formed the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) which he used to challenge Kibaki in 2007 elections.